Tag Archives: walking

Be the Smile You Want to See In the World

Click on the link to watch the video for a one-minute inspirational blast!

Jason Freeman is a professional writer, and a one-of-a-kind public speaker. He is the founder and CEO of Heroic Yes! Productions. Jason has an MFA in Poetry from the University of Nebraska. He knows the pain of perceiving one’s life through a lens of limitation and also the thrill of moving beyond that mindset. For more information on Jason’s powerful message, or to book him to present to your organization, go to www.HeroicYesProductions.com

My name used to be “HAVE TO” Freeman. In junior high and high school, I lived my life in a way I thought I SHOULD to be well-liked, to be successful, to be one of the cool kids and, as I grew up, to be one of the cool adults. I had a long “SHOULD LIST”for being a highly successful man and was determined to follow it. (I still have this “SHOULD LIST” in the back of my mind. But am much less determined to follow it these days.)

What is on your “SHOULD LIST”for being a highly successful adult?

As I love to say in this blog, (along with the love and teachings of my parents and many others), Laughter Yoga, hatha yoga, creative writing, and countless miles of walking are some of the miracles that have allowed me to move from experiencing a life of disability to experiencing a life of radiant ability.

Part of the miracle of these activities is that I Love To Do Them. However, none of these activities were on my “SHOULD LIST” for being a highly successful adult.

For example, I have been known to take fourteen hatha yoga classes a week at Pilgrimage of the Heart, the studio where I’m a member.

Do I do this because I wake-up in the morning and think, “Oh there are so many things I would rather be doing, but I better go to two yoga classes today because people say it’s supposed to be good for me. I SHOULD REALLY GO!”

No, not at all! I go to two yoga classes a day because I LOVE yoga, I LOVE the benefits I see from yoga, I LOVE the studio I go to, and I LOVE my teachers and my fellow students.

Yoga has become a miracle in my life because I have done it over and over again. IN A WAY YOU COULD SAY I’VE ALLOWED YOGA TO BE A MIRACLE IN MY LIFE BECAUSE of MY PARTICIPATION IN IT.

Another part of this miracle is that yoga brings me JOYAS I DO IT.

We can work hard at achieving health and achieving our dreams by doing things we think we SHOULD do. The world is full of endless ideas, and endless things that have worked for other people. People might tell us that we SHOULD do such and such to achieve such and such result. But the only SHOULD that actually makes us do something is the SHOULD we tell ourselves.

Each one of us is ultimately responsible for finding the activities that we love to do, the activities that bring us both joy and the results we want.

I’ve found that it can be unsettling to pursue the things we love to do because it often challenges and can change our definition of what it is to be a highly successful adult.

As you move from your “SHOULD LIST”to your “THINGS I LOVE TO DO LIST,” I found that life can change and expand in unpredictable ways. These changes can be exciting and at the same time occasionally daunting.

To keep in mind the direction I want to go, rather than “No Pain, No Gain”, my motto has become “FIND JOY, FIND GAIN.”

The journey from “No Pain, No Gain” to “FIND JOY, FIND GAIN.” is the journey from “I’m doing this because I SHOULD” to “I’m doing this because ILOVE TO,” the journey from struggling with your life to loving your life, the journey from being your own SHOULD-maker, to being your own MIRACLE-maker.

This journey can be a life-long adventure.

Have fun!

Game of the Day

What’s currently on your “THINGS I LOVE TO DO LIST?”

What is your next step to finding more of “THE THINGS YOU LOVE TO DO?”

Jason Freeman is a professional writer, and a one-of-a-kind public speaker. He is the founder and CEO of Heroic Yes! Productions. Jason has an MFA in Poetry from the University of Nebraska. He knows the pain of perceiving one’s life through a lens of limitation and also the thrill of moving beyond that mindset. For more information on Jason’s powerful message, or to book him to present to your organization, go to www.HeroicYesProductions.com

How long has it been since you just walked and laughed?

Click on the link to watch the video for a one-minute inspirational blast!

Jason Freeman is a professional writer, and a one-of-a-kind public speaker. He is the founder and CEO of Heroic Yes! Productions. Jason has an MFA in Poetry from the University of Nebraska. He knows the pain of perceiving one’s life through a lens of limitation and also the thrill of moving beyond that mindset. For more information on Jason’s powerful message, or to book him to present to your organization, go to www.HeroicYesProductions.com.

For the last several years, the White Coat Ceremony at which the first year medical students at the University of South Dakota commence their training has begun with a musical selection entitled “Starting From Here.” The motivational title of the piece is taken from the title of one of my father’s fine books of poetry.

I am struck by how we all have the opportunity to embark on a journey towards our own wellness and happiness by “Starting From Here,” by starting from whatever moment we are at.

Just as the med students will be endeavoring to understand how to make the human body well, we can come to understand how to proactively create wellness in our own bodies by discovering and engaging in exercise routines that we love.

Like a beginning medical student studying, the more consistent we are in our exercise routines, the more our efforts will pay off. I find this consistency isn’t always easy. Take yesterday morning for instance. The alarm went off at 6:45AM and I did not want to get up and go to Leela’s yoga class at nine, even though I absolutely love Leela’s class. Against my wishes to sleep, I finally got up and made it to class in plenty of time. Half-way through the class, I was so grateful that I decided to come and couldn’t imagine what my day would have been like if I slept in and missed class.

I relay this bit of my life to you to emphasize the importance of finding physical activities that you love to do. If I had planned to do some type of exercise that didn’t appeal to me yesterday at nine, I would have probably shut my alarm off at 6:45 AM and stayed in bed.

Exercise has been a major part of my life for many years, but not because it is something I force myself to do to burn calories or stay in shape. Rather, I have found exercise activities that I love to engage in. For years, I was into walking long distances, and now I go to a yoga class everyday that I can.

I am drawn to these physical activities time and time again not because I feel I have to do them but because I love to do them.

A willingness to return to an exercise time and time again is important because the benefits of an exercise accumulate. For example, if you start out running a half-mile and add another half-mile on each day, within about a year you will be running the distance of a marathon. Isn’t that cool? Whereas if a person runs a half-mile one-day, adds another half-mile the next and then quits on the third because he or she really can’t stand running, the benefits of the exercise hardly have time to accumulate.

“Starting From Here,” why not embark on an exploration to find more physical activities that really turn you on? If you love your current exercise routine, use this exploration to find new activities to possibly add to you routine or to engage in once and awhile. If you don’t have an exercise routine or are stuck in a rut with your current routine, try a variety of new physical activities until you find the ones that will get you out of bed at 6:45 AM, those mornings when you really want to roll over and tell you alarm to get lost.

Game of the Day

Part One- List three physical activities (anything from walking, to machines at the gym, to exercise classes to competitive sports) that you feel you might enjoy.

Part Two– Schedule times in your calendar to try each of these three activities.

Part Three– Have fun exploring and finding an exercise routine you love!

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